I need general health care - can I pay ZUS monthly for this?

Hello again,
The job I have right now is on one of these awful "Contact for a specific task", which is nice because it gives me a known income each month but bad because I don't get paid holiday or health cover, but I do of course pay tax, that's done by the school for me.

So, I'm here with only the basic emergency health care provided by the NHS through the EU agreements. That OK if the only illness I get is an emergency, but what about day to day health issues that may arise? How can I get health care? Can I pay ZUS or something each month to obtain this right?

Any help on this would be greatly appreciated and I'm just a little annoyed that my school wasn't better prepared for native speakers to help me with all this in the first place. I will have to prepare some document for whoever replaces me when I decide to move on.

many thanks

Tony

Tony,
I make a voluntary payment to ZUS each month for normal healthcare. The sum is around 285 PLN but this can vary by a couple of Zloty each month. Once you have it set up, you can transfer the money online. It usually stays the same amount for a period of 3 months and then you have to look up the ZUS site to see if it has changed. There is a small setup fee but as long as your NI contributions in the UK are up to date, this is a small sum.

285zloty is a lot to pay into for such a poor system. If you'll only be needing a doctor visit here & there, wouldn't it be cheaper to just go to a private clinic and pay?

You have to think long term. Just because you have not had a car accident in 10 years do you think that you do not need vehicle insurance?. I have already had a heart bypass in Poland, waiting time was 1 week, in England I would be looking at 6 months, if, I was lucky. Stop knocking the Polish health care, I have no complaints, I have been well looked after by very proffessional, caring people.

That is surprising, I didn't know the care in England was worse. My aunt in PL had a head tumor and waited 3-4 months for an MRI. Caring people with lack of funds & equipment.

I worked under that contract for 3 years and didn't pay ZUS. There's no need, really. It's called umowa o dzieło and they are dodgy

Yes, i'm realising that and trying to get a better way of doing things next term. But, if that's all they offer then that's what I have to take. I did wonder why they were keen for me to not show my contract to the tax office when i went to sort out my NIP. They insisted I must not mention the contract.

Tony

I have no idea what experience you have with either the English or Polish health service, but, I can assure you that the hospital in Krakow (Jan Pawal 11) where I received treatment has state of the art facilities and was the "cleanest" hospital that I have ever been in. This includes "private" hospitals in the UK.